Travel in Italy with weird dietary restrictions
 

My niece is going to Italy in late July with some of her immediate family. Her diet is very restricted. First she has diagnosed celiac disease so not gluten. On top of that there are other foods that she claims she cannot tolerate. Rather than list those, I will list those things she is confident about eating:
Baked salmon, unseasoned.
Plain baked potato
Jarlsberg light cheese (perhaps some other low fat hard cheeses but I do not know
Plain yogurt
and, Deli type packaged turkey (go figure)
That's it.
So the question is that:
Can she buy these items in supermarkets (they may be able to arrange for kitchen access)
If not, which items are not available in supermarkets or restaurants. Or do you think a hotel kitchen or b&b host would be willing to prepare if supplied?

Their itinerary is nuts. Rome. Tuscany, day trip to Florence, Lake Garda and maybe Lake Como as well (I would guess it is too late to get hotels or b&bs at the lakes this time of year), day trip to Venice, day trip to Verona, back to Rome. All in 2 weeks. Crazy, no?

Although their itinerary may not allow it, I'd look into apartments with at least a small kitchenette. I have seen all these items (except for the salmon-I wasn't looking for it) in grocery stores. She should be able to eat risotto, parmesan and romano cheeses, plus a number of fruits and vegetables she is comfortable eating.

Thanks. They have already booked B&Bs. I suggested that they contact the hosts to see if they would prepare the items. Thanks also for the other food suggestions but she will eat ONLY those items listed. She refuses to even try anything else.

I think she will have to branch out a little, unless she wants to live on plain yogurt. I have seen uncooked turkey cutlets but I am not sure I have ever seen deli meat turkey though I have never really looked for it.

She will be able to find some Jarlsberg type cheese, but what will she eat when she goes out? She can probably get roasted potatoes, but they are seasoned.

If it is a B&B presumably they are only doing the breakfast. I can only imagine the thoughts the owner will have when someone asks for turkey and baked potatoes for breakfast... Bellarosa is right, if she really needs to eat this way they should cancel the B&Bs and try to get places with kitchens, even then, I can't really imagine running around looking for salmon and deli meat turkey. At least in a kitchen she can bake a potato (in the microwave) and have a fridge to keep the cheese and the yogurt. Hopefully when she arrives she will be hungry enough to seek out some alternatives that can work for her.

I'm sorry -- and I know you've probably tried, but sometime people are their own worst enemy . . . to have that restricted a diet and then plan a trip all over hell and gone with day trips and schlepping everywhere and no apartments and staying in rural B&Bs. Sounds cold -- but I think she's on her own.

Baked salmon, unseasoned. - in some restaurants she can ask for this. When she has kitchen access, she can find salmon in supermarkets, fresh if they hve a fish section, or frozen (a common item).
Plain baked potato - roast potato (in chunks and seasoned) is a common restaurant item, a whole baked potato is not
Jarlsberg light cheese (perhaps some other low fat hard cheeses but I do not know - no jarlsberg but kraft or similar sliced packaged light cheeses are available at any supermarket
Plain yogurt - available at any supermarket
and, Deli type packaged turkey (go figure) - if you mean the thinly sliced turkey, available at any supermarket

i can see her surviving on yogurt, cheese and turkey but won’t be able to go out anywhere. I guess her undiagnosed/self-claimed intolerances will heal during the two weeks...

[QUOTE=Bellarosa70032;16753268parmesan and romano cheeses, .[/QUOTE]

Neither of these are "low fat". Do low fat hard cheeses exist? I know of some fresh cheeses but they're closer to yogurt in consistency

I think expecting B & Bs to provide these foods is not reasonable (except for plain yogurt) as usually a fairly set breakfast is what is provided. Your niece should try to stay in apartments and prepare her own meals when possible. What does she do when she travels in the US?

I found that bringing a typed, translated list of my allergies was helpful. However, your niece seems to want such a short list of allowed foods, I'm not sure that would work for you. An apartment would be best, moving around less, so that one has time to shop at the grocery store and fruit market, clearly a necessity for her.

She needs to branch out to other fruits and vegetables. And ideally either other fish, or one non-gluten grain such as rice or corn. Then she could find enough to eat at a restaurant, although it may all be vegetable sides.

I'm sorry, I just think she has made the bar too high.

Check with the B&B's if they can stock some items in their fridge. She will not starve, at the minimum there will be yoghurt, some cheese and sliced turkey from the supermarket, but they'll have to refrigerate these somewhere.
None of the things on that list can be taken away on a day trip. If she can eat nuts and fruit as snacks, that would make it a bit easier.

I agree that the itinerary is nuts, especially in late July when it will be sweltering hot.

I assume she eats fruit and vegetables?

Not per the OP . . . that very short list and then >>That's it.<< if fruit and veg were in the mix I assume Basingstoke would have mentioned them.

I think with her dietary restrictions, fat would be the least of her concerns, especially in the small amounts of hard cheese that would be grated over her food. Basingstroke2, I wish you luck. Are you going with her? She may be able to get roasted potatoes near the rotisserie chickens, but this may well be an opportunity to expand her food horizons. Can she eat gelato?

Just curious. How old is she?

I remember traveling around Europe when my sister was 6. She is/was mildly lactose intolerant and also had an extremely short list of things she was willing to eat. My mother was inwardly very anxious but refused to detour/derail our sightseeing with specific food quests, figuring my sister would eventually eat other things. I think my sister existed on bread and water that summer, but she survived.

I don't think the idea is to grate the cheese over food. It's the main dish. OTOH with that diet the person NEEDS the fat but they stated they wanted low fat cheese.

Gluten free items are widely available in Italy, where celiac disease is very common, and where there's also an anti-gluten fad diet making the rounds. You can buy product without gluten in pharmacies and supermarkets, and many restaurants will have suitable items. There are even some restaurants in large cities specialized in celiac disease.

However, if the only things she'll eat are on the above list, the celiac diet is irrelevant, because none of them contain gluten.

In the US, I see various cheeses sold as low fat, but I've never seen that in Italy. They do have lowfat milk and yogurt. The hard cheeses in general have more fat than soft cheeses. Gorgonzola is relatively low in fat.

The Idaho type of potato used to make baked potatoes in the US doesn't exist in Italy. They do have some floury potatoes (patate farinose) but they are mostly used for making gnocchi. The potatoes you commonly find in restaurants are rather different, with a firm flesh.

Her diet doesn't make any sense if that's all she can eat. Celiac disease, if real, okay, but the real is silly if that is her daily diet and nothing else. I find it very odd that no vegetables or fruit of any kind was named, for example. Or eggs.

There isn't any reason she could only eat hard cheeses that I could think of, if she eats cheese. There are cheeses lower in fat than Jarlsberg, by the way (which is just a form of Swiss cheese, isn't it?). Feta cheese is much lower fat, for example. Hard cheeses in general have more fat.

There isn't any reason if she can eat plain turkey she couldn't eat plain chicken.
I also don't see why if she can eat salmon she couldn't eat other baked fish.

If she's an adult, I'd say it's her problem and make her deal with it. And I think she should see a real doctor to comment on this diet (medical or otherwise).

supermarkets in rome at least have multiple types of cheese in low fat version - from cottage cheese over fresh cheeses to leerdamer, edamer type sliced cheeses.... and gorgonzola is one of the highest fat percentage cheeses in italy, it is officially categorized as formaggio grasso, and has between 48-52% fat (not absolute, but of dry substance), in absolute terms around 26%

I was trying to think of a way she could pack some of the food with her. Buy and pack some small cans of salmon? Shelf-stable 'cheese' like Laughing Cow? Take a package of deli meat on the plane would be allowed (but isn't going to last 2 weeks!).

I'm curious... how does SHE think she is going to be able to do this? I mean I know you're trying to help by asking here... but somehow she must believe this is feasible or she wouldn't have planned and confirmed this trip (with the crazy itinerary btw). She must have some idea herself that this can actually work, right?